The Beautiful North
Sep. 26th, 2009 01:10 pm380km on the bike, one ferry, and I've arrived on Amrum - the World's Best Island, as my aunt insists. I don't know about that, but it's definitely nice.
The journey was interesting - I drove between 50 and 90km a day with a rest day in between (which wasn't actually that restful since I did a sightseeing marathon in Schleswig, a rather hilly town). Since I didn't follow the coast most of the time, the drive wasn't that spectacular and photogenic, but I enjoyed myself immensely and sometimes came as close to a zen place as I'll ever be. *g*
Tomorrow I'll take the train back, clean the bike and make further plans - I have next week off, too!
The camera died somewhere along the way, but I'll see if I can rescue some pictures when I'm home.
The journey was interesting - I drove between 50 and 90km a day with a rest day in between (which wasn't actually that restful since I did a sightseeing marathon in Schleswig, a rather hilly town). Since I didn't follow the coast most of the time, the drive wasn't that spectacular and photogenic, but I enjoyed myself immensely and sometimes came as close to a zen place as I'll ever be. *g*
Tomorrow I'll take the train back, clean the bike and make further plans - I have next week off, too!
The camera died somewhere along the way, but I'll see if I can rescue some pictures when I'm home.
on the road
Sep. 18th, 2009 10:56 pmI'm in Hamburg - saw Neil Gaiman, who is funny and sweet and probably should get more sleep (or maybe he just looks like that). Then I met up with my cousin and his girlfriend (who saw Angela Merkel instead *g*), got something to eat and then we went home because all of us started to yawn.
Currently I'm on their sofa (of course I'm awake *now*). Tomorrow is the cousin's birthday, my sister and her family will come (and my aunt, that's still a secret though! *g*) and then I'll start my bike tour of awesomeness.
VACATION!
Currently I'm on their sofa (of course I'm awake *now*). Tomorrow is the cousin's birthday, my sister and her family will come (and my aunt, that's still a secret though! *g*) and then I'll start my bike tour of awesomeness.
VACATION!
Gaiman in Hamburg
Sep. 17th, 2009 07:30 amso I'll be at the Gaiman event in Hamburg tomorrow. Anyone else coming?
(YAY NEIL GAIMAN SO COOL!)
(YAY NEIL GAIMAN SO COOL!)
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
harriet_spy posted the quote, and Neil Gaiman recced the article: the NYT interviewed Ray Bradbury, who is raising money for libraries. It's a nice read, actually, and I think he's completely right about how important libraries are. But he's also 89 years old.The best part:
The Internet? Don’t get him started. “The Internet is a big distraction,” Mr. Bradbury barked from his perch in his house in Los Angeles, which is jammed with enormous stuffed animals, videos, DVDs, wooden toys, photographs and books, with things like the National Medal of Arts sort of tossed on a table.
“Yahoo called me eight weeks ago,” he said, voice rising. “They wanted to put a book of mine on Yahoo! You know what I told them? ‘To hell with you. To hell with you and to hell with the Internet.’
“It’s distracting,” he continued. “It’s meaningless; it’s not real. It’s in the air somewhere.”
If that doesn't cheer you up: Yesterday I ran a 5k race dressed as a garden gnome. There might be pictures when their website updates. *g*
invite codes - I has them.
Jun. 18th, 2009 07:00 pmI have nine, even! First come, first served, if you still need one, if you want to make another journal / a new comm / a mirror for an existing journal on LJ or IJ - whatever! Come play! Just grab one and paste it into the appropriate spot at the Dreamwidth home page.
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F4N56FEP74NPNAAAAGUQ
AFPD4DRAEW9SPAAABA2M
DB57MMECCMVHYAAABA2N
B9GTA5EPT4FMBAAADQTJ
Y4W59FBYSHVGPAAADQTK
SCY9VQXAN3CQ8AAADQTL
E25WMM6ZS7QJAAAADQTM
DTCEVDEFVRD8GAAAAGUN
JT9ANH5FDRHJMAAAAGUP
F4N56FEP74NPNAAAAGUQ
AFPD4DRAEW9SPAAABA2M
DB57MMECCMVHYAAABA2N
B9GTA5EPT4FMBAAADQTJ
Y4W59FBYSHVGPAAADQTK
SCY9VQXAN3CQ8AAADQTL
E25WMM6ZS7QJAAAADQTM
Hugos: Novelettes
Jun. 8th, 2009 08:36 pmWhat are novelettes anyway? (I can see the need for a word that means "longer than a short story but shorter than a novella", but somehow I'd expected the English language to come up with something... better. I'm thankful for "Erzählung".)
Anyway, nominees and my votes! The links take you directly to the stories (the overview is here); you can read them for free and I encourage you to do this. Cool fiction for free - almost like in fandom! *g* (In fact, some of the Nominees are fanfic.)
My number one: The Gambler by Paolo Bacigalupi. READ THIS. I MEAN IT. The POV character is an online journalist in the US with Lao roots, and the story is about that, but also about doing the right thing and telling the important stories and how you hold on to what's important. I loved this and I really, really want this story to win a Hugo.
Second place: Alastair Baffle's Emporium of Wonders by Mike Resnick. This is a story about two ninety-year-old guys who have been friends all their life. ( slight spoilers ) The reviews I've seen are mostly negative, but I liked this.
Third: Pride and Prometheus (pdf-link) by John Kessel. This is exactly what you might suspect - and by "you" I'm talking about a fandom person. ( vague spoilers for the premise of the story )
So I recommend those stories (the last one with caveats, see the cut above). The last two nominees I don't want to win.
Shoggoths in Bloom by Elizabeth Bear. This one's fanfic, too! Lovecraft fanfic, to be exact. The reason I'm not rating this one is the obvious one - I only heard of Bear during RaceFail, and I don't want her to win a Hugo. I read the story with that in mind, to be honest, but the story itself didn't convince me either. ( plot spoiler )
The last nominee: The Ray Gun - a Love Story by James Alan Gardner. This one simply bored me, and I didn't finish it, so I don't have anything useful to say.
Anyway, nominees and my votes! The links take you directly to the stories (the overview is here); you can read them for free and I encourage you to do this. Cool fiction for free - almost like in fandom! *g* (In fact, some of the Nominees are fanfic.)
My number one: The Gambler by Paolo Bacigalupi. READ THIS. I MEAN IT. The POV character is an online journalist in the US with Lao roots, and the story is about that, but also about doing the right thing and telling the important stories and how you hold on to what's important. I loved this and I really, really want this story to win a Hugo.
Second place: Alastair Baffle's Emporium of Wonders by Mike Resnick. This is a story about two ninety-year-old guys who have been friends all their life. ( slight spoilers ) The reviews I've seen are mostly negative, but I liked this.
Third: Pride and Prometheus (pdf-link) by John Kessel. This is exactly what you might suspect - and by "you" I'm talking about a fandom person. ( vague spoilers for the premise of the story )
So I recommend those stories (the last one with caveats, see the cut above). The last two nominees I don't want to win.
Shoggoths in Bloom by Elizabeth Bear. This one's fanfic, too! Lovecraft fanfic, to be exact. The reason I'm not rating this one is the obvious one - I only heard of Bear during RaceFail, and I don't want her to win a Hugo. I read the story with that in mind, to be honest, but the story itself didn't convince me either. ( plot spoiler )
The last nominee: The Ray Gun - a Love Story by James Alan Gardner. This one simply bored me, and I didn't finish it, so I don't have anything useful to say.
(no subject)
Jun. 8th, 2009 08:29 pmMy favorite method of procrastination: Linkhopping at the AO3. (Is this the cool acronym? I don't remember.) There's a "try a new author" link on the frontpage! And you can go through fandoms and tags and things!)
This time I arrived in Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog fic, and I want to rec this one: What A Man's Gotta Do by minkhollow. A lgbtfest story about Captain Hammer. And by the end, I really, really liked the Captain. *boggles* If you haven't, read it! (And keep surfing the Archive. I've found a lot of cool stuff there.)
This time I arrived in Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog fic, and I want to rec this one: What A Man's Gotta Do by minkhollow. A lgbtfest story about Captain Hammer. And by the end, I really, really liked the Captain. *boggles* If you haven't, read it! (And keep surfing the Archive. I've found a lot of cool stuff there.)
(no subject)
Jun. 7th, 2009 08:42 pmI had a post, but I bored myself during spellcheck, so I scrapped it. Lucky you!
I'm pretty busy and also in the process of reassessing my life. This is both slightly depressing and exhausting, so I'm rather quiet at the moment. Sorry about that!
One thing I know: It's good to be an aunt. *g*
( proof! )
I'm pretty busy and also in the process of reassessing my life. This is both slightly depressing and exhausting, so I'm rather quiet at the moment. Sorry about that!
One thing I know: It's good to be an aunt. *g*
( proof! )
Hugo Nominees for Best Short Story
Jun. 2nd, 2009 07:37 pmI finished some Hugo categories! I figured since I got to read them, I should vote, too. This is hard, since the voting works on this complicated system I seem to remember from the LJ elections (and whatever happened to legomymalfoy?).
First things first: If you're interested in the things that are nominated, go here. Most of the stuff I've read (mainly shorter forms) are available for free and linked from there.
So without further ado: Hugo Nominees. (Spoilerish things will be cut, of course.)
Best Short Story
My favorite is 26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss by Kij Johnson: Aimee's big trick is that she makes 26 monkeys vanish onstage.
This is everything I want from a short story: An interesting idea (vanishing monkeys!), great writing, likeable characters. And an ending that actually made me tear up.
Second place: Evil Robot Monkey by Mary Robinette Kowal. Two monkey stories in one category! And this one is really the opposite of "26 Monkeys". It's harsh, it's monkey POV, it's more scifi than fantasy, it's really short, and it packs a punch.
Third: Exhalation by Ted Chiang. This one's what I assume is classic science fiction: It's pure world-building based on scientific principle. Really interesting, though a little hard to get into for me.
Fourth: Article of Faith by Mike Resnick. A robot story. It's a good read with a good character voice, but it's a little too on the nose for me. A basic ( spoiler! ) Rather predictable.
Fifth: From Babel's Fallen Glory We Fled by Michael Swanwick. A cool SF story with an interesting take on human/alien interaction. The reason it's number five? ( cut though it's in the first few paragraphs of the story )
So short version: You should totally head over there and read these. And if you want to vote, you have to buy a membership for Anticipation for 50$/35€. So far I have to say it's worth it - the Voter Package you get has a lot of great stuff.
legomymalfoy?).First things first: If you're interested in the things that are nominated, go here. Most of the stuff I've read (mainly shorter forms) are available for free and linked from there.
So without further ado: Hugo Nominees. (Spoilerish things will be cut, of course.)
Best Short Story
My favorite is 26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss by Kij Johnson: Aimee's big trick is that she makes 26 monkeys vanish onstage.
This is everything I want from a short story: An interesting idea (vanishing monkeys!), great writing, likeable characters. And an ending that actually made me tear up.
Second place: Evil Robot Monkey by Mary Robinette Kowal. Two monkey stories in one category! And this one is really the opposite of "26 Monkeys". It's harsh, it's monkey POV, it's more scifi than fantasy, it's really short, and it packs a punch.
Third: Exhalation by Ted Chiang. This one's what I assume is classic science fiction: It's pure world-building based on scientific principle. Really interesting, though a little hard to get into for me.
Fourth: Article of Faith by Mike Resnick. A robot story. It's a good read with a good character voice, but it's a little too on the nose for me. A basic ( spoiler! ) Rather predictable.
Fifth: From Babel's Fallen Glory We Fled by Michael Swanwick. A cool SF story with an interesting take on human/alien interaction. The reason it's number five? ( cut though it's in the first few paragraphs of the story )
So short version: You should totally head over there and read these. And if you want to vote, you have to buy a membership for Anticipation for 50$/35€. So far I have to say it's worth it - the Voter Package you get has a lot of great stuff.
not a real post
May. 30th, 2009 07:52 amjust a reminder to myself.
I want to post about:
- Nephew No.2, who finally arrived two weeks ago!
- the way I'm going to become fit again, so I can hold myself accountable. (I'm currently more of a slug fitness- and bodytype-wise and I don't like it.)
- the Hugo nominees! Or, how a s/f noob reads a lot of it in one go and then has to judge it. \o/
- cooking? the weather? there was something else that I can't think of atm.
... yeah, I know that I just did a stand-in post. This time there's a chance I'll actually post something though because it's a three-day weekend (YAY!) and I'm free of family obligations!
(That is, I'm free of family obligations as of Saturday morning. Yesterday my father called me and asked if I were coming around because he just got a new computer... I told him the basics over the phone ("where do I find the W-LAN password?") and hope for the best. *g*
I want to post about:
- Nephew No.2, who finally arrived two weeks ago!
- the way I'm going to become fit again, so I can hold myself accountable. (I'm currently more of a slug fitness- and bodytype-wise and I don't like it.)
- the Hugo nominees! Or, how a s/f noob reads a lot of it in one go and then has to judge it. \o/
- cooking? the weather? there was something else that I can't think of atm.
... yeah, I know that I just did a stand-in post. This time there's a chance I'll actually post something though because it's a three-day weekend (YAY!) and I'm free of family obligations!
(That is, I'm free of family obligations as of Saturday morning. Yesterday my father called me and asked if I were coming around because he just got a new computer... I told him the basics over the phone ("where do I find the W-LAN password?") and hope for the best. *g*
(no subject)
May. 26th, 2009 08:38 pmI fail at posting. Sorry about that! In my defence, I've been really busy - I became an aunt again, so I spent a lot of time at my sister's, I had to do a lot of overtime at work, blablabla, you don't want to hear it. (If you do want to hear about Nephew No. 2 (with guest appearances by Nephew No. 1), he'll get his own post. *g*
I registered for (at? no clue) Anticipation so I could get my hands on the Hugo Voter Packet. Because of the business mentioned above, I haven't read a lot yet, but I really want to get through most of it and actually vote. So cool! I really like what I've read. (Two of the seven stories I've read are actually fanfic!)
So far, I've made it through the Short Stories and the Novelettes. (I didn't know that was actually a word.) Fortunately I've read two of the novels already. I might post some (very short) reviews in a while. I have next to no experience at reviewing, but I want to try.
I registered for (at? no clue) Anticipation so I could get my hands on the Hugo Voter Packet. Because of the business mentioned above, I haven't read a lot yet, but I really want to get through most of it and actually vote. So cool! I really like what I've read. (Two of the seven stories I've read are actually fanfic!)
So far, I've made it through the Short Stories and the Novelettes. (I didn't know that was actually a word.) Fortunately I've read two of the novels already. I might post some (very short) reviews in a while. I have next to no experience at reviewing, but I want to try.
my herb garden
May. 10th, 2009 06:36 pm
We'll see how it works.
From top left to bottom right: oregano, rosemary, thyme, basil, parsley, sage (I know, the order is wrong. Should have done it otherwise so I can remember which is which easier!), chocolate mint (yes!), peppermint, some thing which is not a herb but fits into the last spot.
5 things that make me happy.
May. 10th, 2009 09:47 amBecause I'm vaguely annoyed and don't want to be.
1. It's Sunday! With lots of sun, even!
2. I had coffee on my balcony this morning.
3. There was a blackbird sitting on the railing, and I could see it open its beak and sing, so now I know how blackbirds sound like. (I wasn't sure before because I have no directional hearing.)
4. I just called my mother (Mother's Day!) and we had a really nice conversation and said that we love each other. That doesn't happen often enough.
5. My hands smell of rosemary.
and a meme for the bored via![[insanejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/ij-userinfo.gif)
painless_j:
( 65 questions with their boring answers )
Aaand I'm feeling better already!
ETA: Just spent some time planting my herb garden. It has 3 floors! I'd forgotten how much fun planting is. Pictures to follow when everything has dried off a little and I had a chance to sweep the balcony. (I'd forgotten how seriously dirty it is, too. *g*)
1. It's Sunday! With lots of sun, even!
2. I had coffee on my balcony this morning.
3. There was a blackbird sitting on the railing, and I could see it open its beak and sing, so now I know how blackbirds sound like. (I wasn't sure before because I have no directional hearing.)
4. I just called my mother (Mother's Day!) and we had a really nice conversation and said that we love each other. That doesn't happen often enough.
5. My hands smell of rosemary.
and a meme for the bored via
painless_j:( 65 questions with their boring answers )
Aaand I'm feeling better already!
ETA: Just spent some time planting my herb garden. It has 3 floors! I'd forgotten how much fun planting is. Pictures to follow when everything has dried off a little and I had a chance to sweep the balcony. (I'd forgotten how seriously dirty it is, too. *g*)
I defeated paypal!
May. 1st, 2009 02:48 pm*eyes the shop*
*checks the time*
... hmmmm....
ETA: I did it. Hey, it was like a sign that I should!
ETA II: I only posted this on IJ, so if you're only reading me here and still need an invite, speak up! First come, first serve.
*checks the time*
... hmmmm....
ETA: I did it. Hey, it was like a sign that I should!
ETA II: I only posted this on IJ, so if you're only reading me here and still need an invite, speak up! First come, first serve.
still here!
Apr. 30th, 2009 06:43 pmOnly not talking. Which makes me sad, but what can I do? I spent my week off almost completely offline at my sister's, then work sapped nearly all my energy - now there's a long weekend, and I'll head to my parents'... forces are against me.
But today I'm home, and tomorrow I might be, too, so yay! Internets!
I hope I'll finally get around to doing my OTW translator work, too. It's fun, and it's actually pretty easy for me, but still, so behind...
I might try for a "post every day!" in May. It's something I always wanted to do.
I thought of saving this up for a "X days of happy" post, but what the hell: Beware the power of fangirls! An Amazon.com screenshot (yes, I know, but I was only browsing).
But today I'm home, and tomorrow I might be, too, so yay! Internets!
I hope I'll finally get around to doing my OTW translator work, too. It's fun, and it's actually pretty easy for me, but still, so behind...
I might try for a "post every day!" in May. It's something I always wanted to do.
I thought of saving this up for a "X days of happy" post, but what the hell: Beware the power of fangirls! An Amazon.com screenshot (yes, I know, but I was only browsing).
Looks like LJ broke OpenID.
Apr. 19th, 2009 06:19 pmAt first I thought it was something on DW's end, but I can't log in with my IJ OpenID either. Stupid LJ.
*kicks it*
ETA: Apparently it's timeouts all over the site, too. Status says there might be problems.
Still, the error I'm getting isn't a timeout error - we'll see.
*practices Zen*
*kicks it*
ETA: Apparently it's timeouts all over the site, too. Status says there might be problems.
Still, the error I'm getting isn't a timeout error - we'll see.
*practices Zen*
PSA: There's an Avatar Marathon on Nick (Germany) right now! And I catched it early enough - they're up to "The King of Omashu" in Season One right now, and it'll be nonstop Avatar til the evening. Yay!
In other news - day One of Nine Days Off: still no idea what I'll do. But I already went shopping for groceries and made a big pot of coffee, so that's progress! *g*
Also: GIP! A lovely spring icon by![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lanning!
In other news - day One of Nine Days Off: still no idea what I'll do. But I already went shopping for groceries and made a big pot of coffee, so that's progress! *g*
Also: GIP! A lovely spring icon by
lanning!
